Month: March 2017

What has made Apple more successful than Microsoft? It isn’t the hardware, the horsepower, or the technical specifications. It is the software— the user experience, the ease of use, and minimalist Apple approach.

Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate ‘autodictat’ (someone who taught himself everything).

We talk about the evils of “G.A.S.” (gear acquisition syndrome). But what if we embraced the opposite — G.A.S. (Gear Allergy Syndrome)?

Dear friend,

I used to be the biggest addict to social media.

Dear friend,

I had the thought today— what exactly is the point of making photos?

Dear friend,

One thing I’ve been wondering a lot is whether we should review our photos everyday (or not) when we are traveling.

As of 2017, I think the best camera for photography is the Ricoh GR II.

First of all; this is just my opinion. Now that we have that out of the way, let us continue:

In this series on how to make good photos (in terms of composition) let us explore the benefits of shooting from a low angle:

One of my friends Devan said a story of how one of his co-workers (62 years old) was planning his retirement. He then suddenly died of a heart attack.

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” – Leonardo da Vinci

When I started to make portraits, I was inspired by Richard Avedon to start with a white background/canvas to make images. Now, I’m trying to do the opposite– start with a black canvas, and add my subject in afterwards.

Why do we blame others for our own faults?

Dear friend,

I want to write you a simple letter; namely, how to make better photos:

Will cropping make a better photo?

The passionate street photographer Keenan Rivals took Street Notes to the streets. Check out how he uses the Street Notes assignments in Detroit and get an exclusive preview of Street Notes:

• Purchase Street Notes (Amazon USA) >
• Purchase Street Notes (International Etsy) >

Street Notes in Action

Dear friend,

Have you ever felt frustrated with your photography?

Dear friend,

Here is how I find inspiration for my photography and life:

Anyone who tells you that there is a “right” and “wrong” way of shooting photography is lying to you.

 

I want to use this time to think about how to add more curves, dynamism, and perhaps the legendary ‘fibonacci spiral’ to your photos:

Dear friend,

I want to write you a letter on how to conquer your fears in art.

I think many of us in photography are striving to be more artistic.

We all generally tend to have a ‘workflow’ in life — how we handle our tasks, processes, in as an efficient and smooth manner possible.

Dear friends,

If you want inspiration from the masters of photography, I compiled the following 178MB .zip file for you:

In this video, I walk you through how I edit some recent photos I made in Hanoi:

Dear friend,

I was walking on the streets of Hanoi today, and I was wondering: What is the point of photography?

Dear friend,

I’ve been really into the soul lately — in terms of how we can integrate it into our photography and life.

I think a great photo includes: 1) Composition, 2) Emotion, and 3) Soul:

Dear friend,

I was really inspired by this notion of ‘techno-zen’ that I read in Steve Job’s biography by Walter Isaacson.

Hey friends,

I’m doing this video to give you a behind-the-scenes look of my image-selection process (editing):

Dear friend,

I wanted to share some of my thoughts about “workflow” in photography: